Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney put the college sports world on notice Friday, publicly blasting the Ole Miss Rebels and their head coach Pete Golding and accusing them of tampering with transfer LB Luke Ferrelli.
After Clemson signed Ferrelli, Ole Miss swooped in last-minute and secured a flipped commitment from the former Cal LB. Swinney’s now accusing Ole Miss of sending text messages to Ferrelli after he had already signed with Clemson.
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For nearly ten minutes, Swinney detailed an alleged timeline of events that led to the flipped commitment.
“There’s tampering, and then there’s blatant tampering,” Swinney explained. “Tampering 101 is when you’re talking to kids who aren’t in the portal. Tampering 201 is when you’ve already negotiated the deal with the kids not in the portal. Tampering 301 is when you’ve got a kid who’s going in the portal to sign somewhere, move there, going to classes, and you’re texting them while they’re in class. That’s like a whole other level of tampering.”
Swinney also accused Golding of sending Ferrelli a text that read, “I know you’re signed, but what is your buyout?”
These kinds of accusations can have a huge impact on the NCAA and is the latest development in the ongoing drama surrounding the college football transfer portal.
According to Swinney, Clemson is in contact with the NCAA and is moving forward with a formal complaint, setting up one of the first major cases of potential tampering enforcement.
James Parker is a sports writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker
